Hollywood wants in on Thai cave story drama

HOLLYWOOD producers are already in Thailand with plans to develop a movie about the 18-day saga of the soccer team trapped in a flooded cave.

Though the drama of headline-grabbing rescues often doesn't carry over the big screen, Pure Flix Entertainment co-founder Michael Scott believes the story about the 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach is ripe for movie adaptation.

"We realised that this would make an incredibly inspiring movie," Scott said, speaking by phone from Thailand.

"Like a lot of people, we know there's not a lot of positive news in the world today."

Scott said he felt a personal connection with the story.

His wife is Thai and he said he was spending the summer in Bangkok when the soccer team went missing.

Scott and fellow producer Adam Smith recently travelled to the area around the cave in the northern Thailand, and they have begun talking to some of the participants about their "life rights."

But they also stressed that they aren't yet pursuing most of the families of the boys, who on Wednesday remained recuperating in a hospital.

"For us it's not a huge race," said Smith. "It's about making sure we get the authenticity right."

The company is known for religious films

"I don't think this is a religious film," said Scott. "I think this is an inspirational film."

How Thai cave rescue nearly didn't happen

RESCUE leaders have revealed just how touch and go the mission was as the boys sitting on a tiny ledge started becoming drowsy as oxygen levels fell, with fears they would slip into comas.

As Hollywood circles offering "serious money" for insider accounts of the cave rescue, with a heavy focus on Australian doctor Richard Harris, the Australian Federal Police in Thailand said they have been fielding steady offers from producers but pointed out that they are not a film agency.

No matter how Hollywood portrays the rescue, they will have trouble matching the drama and emotion of what has played out in Chiang Rai.

Rear admiral Apakorn Youkongkaew, head of Naval Special Warfare Command, said that when they realised time was running out for the Wild Boars, who had already been found but were becoming weak and distressed, they turned to their international partners.

"Oxygen was decreasing and the kids were becoming drowsy," Apakorn said. "What will we do? We had such time constraints. Finally, we got a plan from the international divers. I'm so glad. We approved it."

The rescue of the boys lost in the cave in Thailand. Picture: Thai Navy SEAL Facebook page

The final plan involved placing hundreds oxygen cylinders and a guide rope along the route - and just going for it.

But first Dr Harris was tasked with giving the boys a mild sedative - the Thai prime minister said the drug was an anxiolytic, or anti-anxiety medication - so they could relax on the journey out. All they had to do was trust in the divers and let it happen.

Deputy SEALs commander, Captain Anan Sudawan, revealed how after the first pair of British divers reached the boys on a five-and-a-half hour journey, they had to make the agonising decision to leave the boys on the 5m x 2m ledge, promising to return.

When they arrived back at the base camp, Captain Anan sent four Thai Navy SEALs to the ledge, with food, water and foil blankets.

This caused new anxiety because the SEALs took 23 hours to return after reaching the boys. And only three of them returned. Lieutenant-Colonel Park Lohachoon, a diving medic, chose to stay with them.

Park, who would be the last man out of the cave when the rescue was completed, is now a Thai national hero.

Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn said: "If the level of oxygen got to 12 per cent, the boys would go into a coma. Normal people need oxygen at 20 per cent, but there was on 15 per cent. And water was coming. Here in the north, it's like a waterfall.

"We had to make the mission impossible a mission possible."

AUSSIE HERO DOC SPEAKS OUT

Dr Richard 'Harry' Harris has spoken about the miraculous rescue.

The Adelaide anaesthetist and experienced cave diver, who has been hailed a "hero of the Thai people" and an "extraordinary Australian" for his pivotal role in the dangerous rescue mission, sent out a message of thanks for the support that had been pouring in since the final boys were brought to safety on Tuesday night.

In a statement with his dive partner, West Australian vet Craig Challen, Dr Harris said: "The favourable outcome that has been achieved is almost beyond our imagination when we first became involved in this operation."

"We are humbled to have been able to provide our expertise and experience to assist in this international operation led by the Thai government."

Heartfelt messages of support have been flooding in for Dr Harris, who made the dive into the cave for each rescue mission to assess the boys' fitness to make the journey to the surface and to administer a small sedative to keep them calm on the way out.

There has also been an outpouring of support for the 53-year-old after it emerged yesterday his father had died just hours after the last of the boys were successfully rescued.

In their statement today, Dr Harris and Dr Challen said their "thanks and greatest admiration" went to the British lead divers on the mission and the support divers from the EU, US, China and Australia who helped pass the boys to safety in a "daisy chain" out of the cave.

They also acknowledged the "vast number of participants from military and civilian organisations in various support roles".

"Additionally, we were only a small part of an Australian contingent comprising personnel from DFAT, AFP, and ADF who performed valuable roles," the duo said.

"We particularly would like to thank the players and their coach for placing their trust in us. We wish them a speedy recovery. Thank you."

AUSSIE RESCUER WAS PESSIMISTIC

The retired Perth vet who helped Dr Harris was pessimistic before the mission too place, according to his partner.

Craig Challen was packing to go on a holiday to the Nullarbor with his diving buddy Richard 'Harry' Harris on Thursday last week when his friend called and quickly changed their plans. The pair were on their way to Thailand within an hour.

"He did hold concerns for the whole situation. I think he went over there with a bit of a pessimistic view - he thought it was going to be a real challenge to get the boys out alive," Heather Endall told ABC radio.

The revelation comes as rescue leaders showed vision of most of the boys smiling and waving to a camera as their parents, one of them crying, looked in at them through a glass partition at Chiangi Rai hospital.

The boys were lying in bed, or walking about, dressed in hospital whites, healthy but awaiting quarantine clearance as ecstatic relatives watched and waved from behind the glass barrier.

The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from deep within a flooded cave in Thailand made the V-for-Victory sign from their hospital isolation ward where they are recovering from the 18-day ordeal.

Also revealed was footage from deep within the cave system, showing a boggy, dank and dark-brown underground river, into which torchlight could barely penetrate.

The boys have been through a horrific ordeal. “The children should not be blamed for the incident,” says Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn.

Rear Admiral Apakorn Youkongkaew, head of Naval Special Warfare Command, said they had considered drilling through the mountain to get the boys, but found it would have been "like performing a herculean task".

"We analysed and discussed how we were going to help these kids. We found our strengths and got the greatest divers in the world to come and help us."

Rescued Thai schoolboys in hospital after cave ordeal:
Rescued Thai schoolboys waving and smiling as they recuperate in hospital after frightening cave ordeal.

Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn said a life had been sacrificed to make the mission a success.

"We have lost petty officer first-class Saman Kunan. We will remember him as a hero. We used his determination to push through and make this a success.

"I have also been informed by the Prime Minister, who received a call from Ms Julie Bishop, the Australian Foreign Minister, on the passing of Dr Richard Harris's father.

"I would like to express my deepest condolences for his great loss, and thank him for his contribution, for without him this mission would not have been a success."

Narongsak revealed that as concerns grew about failing oxygen and rising carbon dioxide in the cave, the pressure was on.

The rescued team in hospital behind a glass barrier.

Thai Navy SEALs "told us the kids are getting weaker, we have to get them out of the cave".

"But for this task we had to put in the best performance, so we put oxygen tanks in many spots in the cave. We had to make the decision.

"One of the really important things was the pumping teams. Both inside the cave and outside the cave, they were really important. And there was another team diverting water."

The boys will be monitored for some time to come to ensure they are mentally strong.

"The children should not be blamed for the incident," said Narongsak.

"What happened was a misfortune that no one would like to see happen."

He did not elaborate on the exact details of how and why the boys entered the cave with their coach.

NEW FOOTAGE INSIDE THE CAVE

More footage released by the Thai Navy SEALS on Facebook has revealed just how treacherous the rescue was and the elements they were up against. You can watch it below.

A REAL GLOBAL RESCUE MISSION

It took 13 countries to pull the 13 Wild Boars out of the flooded cave - along with some 2000 people and a whole lot of planning, good fortune and goodwill.

The images of the boys, found alive and well, perched on a muddy shelf amid rising waters nine days after they were lost on June 23, was initial cause for celebration.

But those who know the treachery of underground caves knew a huge challenge lay ahead.

Heavy rains were coming; there was a good chance the boys were already suffering from pneumonia or waterborne disease; and the Tham Luang's 10km cave system was not even properly mapped.

The Australian Federal Police’s Manager for Asia, Commander Glen McEwen, labelled the incredible operation as “the good news of the year”. Picture: AFP

Thailand's friends reacted immediately and the Chiang Rai region's departing governor, Narongsak Osotthanakorn, made sure they were welcome - so long as they were true professionals, not attention seekers.

Divers and disaster experts were quickly identified from within Australia, Britain, China, USA, Canada, Laos, Israel, Belgium, Myanmar, Finland, Denmark and Japan and converged on the rugged Chiang Rai region of northern Thailand to give the help urgently needed.

Foreign divers head to Tham Luang Nang Non cave during the rescue operation.

More than 100 Royal Thai Navy SEALs were already in place, having made preliminary expeditions into the cave, fast becoming inundated with rushing waters. They were backed by 1000 Thai military, plus hundreds of volunteers.

All options were on the table, including trying to locate a shaft to tunnel down to the boys. But diving them out was the fastest, and riskiest, method.

As university types cautioned against the water extraction, Narongsak knew it was the best hope.

A strategy was quickly agreed on. Air tanks would be positioned along the route. A safety guide line would be fastened through the tunnels.

A core group of 19 divers to rescue the boys were identified. And for each plan, a second and third contingency put in place should any link in the chain fail.

The six AFP and one Defence divers would not be among them - and that was no slap in the face.

They had been involved in exploratory dives but when duties were divided up, it was decided they would be located at base camps two and three, within the cave, moving tonnes of equipment, including food and tanks.

Water is pumped from the flooded cave during the rescue mission.

BOYS DRANK DRIPPING WATER TO SURVIVE

The 12 boys and soccer coach lost weight during their 18-day ordeal and in the days before their discovery survived by drinking water dripping into their refuge, a health official says.

The team members and coach "took care of themselves well in the cave," Thongchai Lertwilairatanapong, a public health inspector, said at a news conference at the hospital in Chiang Rai.

The four boys rescued on Sunday can eat normal food and walk around, and the four pulled out on Monday were eating soft food.

Thongchai said one member of the final group of four boys and the coach who arrived at the hospital on Tuesday evening had a slight lung infection.

Two of the first group had a lung infection as well, and Thongchai said they would need medicine for seven days.

The 12 boys and their coach had been trapped in the cave since June 23.

The average weight loss was 2kg for those with known information, Thongchai said. They were able to obtain water dripping inside the cave.

"To not receive food, we can still survive for many months but what's necessary is water, which the cave has, and around this time there's a lot in the cave, and they chose clean water to drink," he said.

The rescued boys smile and wave at their parents through a glass partition. Picture: Twitter

It took 2000 people and a whole lot of planning, good fortune and goodwill to rescue the boys from the flooded cave. Picture: Thai Navy SEALS/Facebook